Previously, I avoided comment about Judge Moore in this space and elsewhere because I did not know what, or who to believe.
The pattern of behavior now clearly exhibited by Moore is troubling, to say the least. His lawyerly denials ring oddly hollow. But the sudden appearance of purported victims in the company of such manipulative self-promoters as Gloria Allred raises its own set of reasonable doubts.
There is also the troubling matter of tribal loyalties in public life, leading many to reflexively defend or denounce a person accused of abusive behavior, not on the basis of known facts, but upon one's political fealty.
I do not know, nor in truth does anyone but Judge Moore and his accusers, know for certain what happened or did not happen between them. But any honest appraisal must depend first on what is factually known, then upon what can be observed by behavior, and finally, by reference to the lessons imparted by one's own knowledge and experience.
Speaking only for myself, I have observed behavior on the part of Moore that raises my suspicions, as amplified by personal experiences with predators and those of women very, very close to me who have been assaulted by them.
Where there is smoke, there is often - but not always - fire. And what might be claimed by some to be a four-alarm blaze might simply be a kitchen grease fire. Once again, I don't know what is the case here, but I smell something for certain, and it is not the odor of pure innocence.
Poll
